Kawakami: Harbaugh's own experience helped him with Aldon Smith

SANTA CLARA -- Earlier this week, Jim Harbaugh sounded as if he were talking about himself, just for a rare little bit, when he spoke about Aldon Smith's recovery and return this season.

The 49ers coach's answer seemed more personal -- and pointed -- than we usually ever get from Harbaugh, and yes, there's a good reason.

When Harbaugh spoke about Smith's journey from a DUI arrest in September, treatment and return to action, Harbaugh was alluding to his own 2005 DUI arrest and the lessons he learned from it.

How do I know this? Because I asked him Thursday, and Harbaugh quickly and agreeably confirmed that this was true.

"I included myself there, yeah," Harbaugh said after his news conference. "I mean, all of us who tend to point the finger at somebody else and say, 'Look where they took a misstep' ...

"We think of ourselves as very smart, but how did we get to that point? Because we learned from our mistakes. We all get smart by learning from our mistakes."

Harbaugh didn't want to elaborate much about his own DUI, which occurred when he was coaching at the University of San Diego and was plead to a misdemeanor.

"That's pretty well documented," Harbaugh said.

But as the 49ers get set for their titanic NFC Championship game meeting with archrival Seattle, Harbaugh didn't deny that he understands Smith's experience in a very real way.

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And look at where Harbaugh is now: The only coach in NFL history to take his team to a conference championship game in his first three seasons, possibly with a chance to win a Super Bowl in a few weeks.

Plus, Harbaugh and the 49ers front office were criticized harshly (by me and others) for allowing Smith to play in a game only two days after his arrest -- and before he went into rehab.

Smith returned to the team after missing five games, has worked himself back into shape and has played some of the best football of his career in the 49ers' two playoff victories.

"I'd say I had some adversity," Smith said Thursday. "I battled through it at the beginning of the year.

"It means a lot just to be back here, a game away from the Super Bowl, that's all I'm really focused on right now."

Days after the arrest, owner Jed York stood beside Smith prominently and literally in the aftermath of Smith's arrest, and Harbaugh and general manager Trent Baalke made sure he was always supported.

Does Smith feel like he owes the 49ers a great playoff performance?

"We're a family around here," Smith said. "We've got each other's backs when things go certain ways. It's good just being back around here being around the guys who look at you like a brother."

According to multiple team sources, Smith has been a model citizen and teammate since he returned from rehab.

Of course, nobody is guaranteeing anything, and nobody can guarantee anything about a player's behavior from day to day.

But for the last few months, Smith has hit every mark -- and it does help that he has been playing fantastically.

"He's been really good as a teammate," Harbaugh said. "And on the field he's been outstanding.

"Teams that want to block Aldon Smith one-on-one are whistling Dixie. That's the way he's playing right now."

Smith is also healthier than he was in the previous postseason, when he was battling a shoulder injury and did not have a sack in the final three regular-season games of the season and all three postseason games.

That Smith was still voted by the coaches as the team MVP last season is just one measure of his importance to this franchise.

This postseason Smith recorded 1﻿1/2 sacks against Green Bay two weeks ago and drew double-teams all game against Carolina last week.

"I'm healthy; I'm feeling good," Smith said. "Like I said, I'm just taking it day by day and getting ready for the game."

It all comes down to Smith's journey -- the terrible mistake he made back in September and the recovery from that behavior.

The 49ers were all-in behind him the entire time, and much of that had to come from Harbaugh, who had been through the same thing.

What kind of confidence did Harbaugh have that Smith would come right back from this?

"I was hoping for the best," Harbaugh said. "And it's a process. It's ongoing. Like with all of us."

That's more Harbaugh personalization, and again, it's not often he goes to that place in public.

"I think my experience has definitely made me a better counselor," Harbaugh said of his 2005 arrest. "And this isn't the first situation.

"What did I learn from it? I definitely got smarter because of it. And I think it's made me a better counselor."

Have you talked with Aldon about it? About getting smarter from this kind of mistake?

"Yes, we've had conversations," Harbaugh said. "I don't want to embellish those or share those or make it look like (anything more than it is) ...

"Aldon is the one who carried the greatest share of the water here. His parents, his mother and father -- just A-plus-plus. There's been teammates and coaches and staff here at the 49ers here, etc.

"But it's not about that. Aldon's the one that's really needed to and carried the water on this one."

The 49ers had Smith's back and that's partly or mainly because his coach had his back, and because his coach is the first to admit that mistakes -- even the big ones -- are the way everybody gets smarter.